Like Alan I have my parents and grandparents to thank for my connection to the non-human natural world. My father was born and raised in Northern Idaho and as a child would often spend the entire summer camped out with his family doing contract work for the forest service. I was raised in Northern Idaho and Washington state and lived most often in the country with easy access to nature. Being outdoors began for me when I was an infant in a backpack on my fathers back as he glissaded on the snowfields of alaska. Family vacations were two weeks spent in a tent and we all loved it (most of the time).

Currently I am living in Atlanta, GA (about 4,000,000 people) but thankfully only for a short time. I am here completing an internship in psychotherapy and horticulture therapy as part of my MA degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology with a Wilderness Therapy emphasis. I believe that many of the psychological problems that Western culture faces today are a result of our removal from our natural habitat and I hope to work to help others reconnect and heal.

As I look to the future I plan to continue my love affair with the natural world and hope to return gradually to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of my ancestors.

My grandfather was the one who always took me to the woods or fishing. I fell out of connection with the earth many years ago and have now come back to it. I live across the road from 25,0000 acre preserve with martitime forests, estuaries, swamps and the ocean. I've been dragging my kids away from the TV and playstation, fishing crabbing and just general outdoor fun. I also volunteer at the preserve and teach school kids about estuarine creatures (fish, crabs, shrimp etc.).

Look forward to learning more.

-T

One of the pivotal moments in my life was when I was twelve. I had opted out of the family church outing and stayed home with my father who never attended church. We were in the garden turning the soil for the spring planting. The birds were singing, the air was light with the promise of the season, the sun warmed our backs. At one point my dad stopped, leaned on his shovel and said, "This is how I talk to God."
I remember a sense of being understood at that moment. My greatest sense of connectivity with the universe occurs when I am outside between soil and sky.

I work in an office in Victoria. I enjoy my job, but my goal is to get myself somewhere that allows me to get outdoors more often.